Georgetown University Richard F. Wetzell Department of History Email: [email protected] BMW Center for German & European Studies Phone: (202) 552-8939 HIST 433 NAZI GERMANY SPRING 2008 SYLLABUS Class meeting time: Tuesdays, 5:15-6:55 pm Contacting the Instructor: You can reach me by email at [email protected] or by phone at my office at (202) 552-8939. Short course description This class provides an introduction to Nazi Germany by examining a range of topics: the Weimar Republic (1919-1933); the rise of Nazism; the Republic’s collapse and the Nazi seizure of power; a local study of the rise of Nazism in one German town; German society under the Nazi regime; popular support and political dissent; sexuality and gender; art and culture; Jewish life and Nazi anti-Semitism; the creation of a "racial state"; the role of science and medicine; the Holocaust; the German army’s participation in war crimes; and Germany’s approach to its Nazi past after 1945. The class is designed for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students. We will meet each week to discuss a common set of readings. Most weeks, the reading will consist of a single book or a collection of essays, sometimes supplemented by articles that provide the historiographical context, i.e. what other historians have written on the topic. In addition to shorter book review papers, there will be different term paper assignments for undergraduates and graduate students: Undergraduates will write a term paper based on two Nazi-era memoirs; graduate students will write a historiographical paper on a topic of their choice. Class Participation Your careful preparation and active participation in class discussion is crucial to the success of the class. Oral participation will account for 40% of your grade. To prepare for class you should: read the assigned text, take notes on your reading, reflect on what you have read, formulate your own criticisms and questions regarding the reading, decide on the questions and issues that you would like to raise in class. History 433/ Nazi Germany/ Syllabus /Page 2 Written Assignments 1. A book review of William S. Allen, The Nazi Seizure of Power, the common reading for the third week, due in class on Feb. 5. Length: 1200 words (about 4 pages). 2. A comparative book review of two books: (a) the common class reading of any week between week 4 and 12 and (b) one book marked with an asterisk (*) on the list of “further reading” for that week. This paper should compare the approach and arguments of the two books and briefly situate them in the historiography. These reviews are due at the class meeting at which the common reading in question is being discussed. Length: 1700 words (about 6 pages). 3a. Undergraduate term paper: A paper on two memoirs selected from the list at the end of this syllabus. You may pick other memoirs, but please clear this with me ahead of time. If you read German, please consult with me, since you will have more choices of memoirs published in German only. Further instructions for this assignment follow in the last section of this syllabus. A brief statement on your selection of memoirs will be due in class on Feb. 19. This assignment will be due on April 25. Length: 2000 words (about 7 pages). 3b. Graduate term paper: a ten-page historiographical paper reviewing major books and articles on a topic of your choice. Topics and books to be chosen in consultation with the instructor. Grading Class attendance is mandatory. Components of final grade: 40% participation in class discussion 10% Review of W.S. Allen book (Assignment 1) 20% Comparative book review (Assignment 2) 30% Term paper (Assignment 3) History 433/ Nazi Germany/ Syllabus /Page 3 Required Books The following books are required reading. They will be placed on reserve in the library and have been ordered for the campus bookstore. All except the first are available in paperback. The books are listed in the order in which we will read them in class. 1. Eric D. Weitz, Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), hardback, $29.95, ISBN 069101695X 2. Richard J. Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich (New York: Penguin Press, 2004), paperback, $18, ISBN: 0143034693 3 . William Allen, The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experiences of a Single German Town, 1922-1945 (Franklin Watts, 2d ed., 1984), paperback, $19.95, ISBN: 0531056333 4. Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power (New York: Penguin, 2005), paperback, $20, ISBN 0143037900 5. Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience (Cambridge: Harvard Univ./ Belknap Press, 2003) paperback, $17.50, ISBN 0674018427 6. Victor Klemperer, I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-1941 (translated, New York: Random House, 1998), paperback $16.95, ISBN 0375753788 7. Dagmar Herzog, Sexuality and German Fascism (New York: Berghahn Books, 2004), paperback, $25, ISBN: 1571815511 8. Jonathan Huener and Francis Nicosia, eds., The Arts in Nazi Germany (New York: Berghahn Books, 2006), paperback $25, ISBN 184545359X 9. Saul Friedländer, Nazi Germany and the Jews, vol. 1, The Years of Persecution, 1933- 1939 (New York, Harper Collins, 1997), paperback $17.95, ISBN: 0060928786 10. Francis Nicosia and Jonathan Huener, eds., Medicine and Medical Ethics in Nazi Germany (New York: Berghahn, 2002), paperback, $22.95, ISBN 157181387X 11. Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the final solution in Poland (New York: Harper, 1992), paperback $14.00, ISBN: 0060995068 12. Omer Bartov, Hitler's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and the War in the Third Reich (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1991), paperback $15.95, ISBN: 0195079035 13. Jeffrey Herf, Divided Memory: The Nazi Past in the Two Germanys (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1997), paperback, $17.95, ISBN 0674213041 History 433/ Nazi Germany/ Syllabus /Page 4 Additional book used in class Ian Kershaw, The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation, 4th edition (London/New York: Arnold/Oxford UP, 2000; ISBN: 0340760281). Several chapters are assigned reading; this book provides the best survey of the historiography. Writing and Style Guides Joseph Williams, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace (various editions, 8th ed., 2004). This book teaches how to write clearly. It is does not deal with grammatical issues. Richard Marius, A Short Guide to Writing about History (various editions, 4th ed., 2001) This book teaches students how to write papers in history classes. Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers (various editions; 6th ed., 1996) This books deals with the mechanics of proper footnoting and formatting. Reference works on Nazi Germany Roderick Stackelberg, The Routledge Companion to Nazi Germany (2007) Richard Overy, ed., Penguin Historical Atlas of the Third Reich (1996) Tim Kirk, ed., The Longman Companion to Nazi Germany (1995) James Taylor, ed., Penguin Dictionary of the Third Reich (1997) Roderick Stackelberg and Sally Anne Winkle, eds., The Nazi Germany Sourcebook: An Anthology of Texts (Routledge, 2002), a good collection of primary sources Surveys of the Nazi period Michael Burleigh, The Third Reich: A New History (2000) Jost Dülffer, Nazi Germany 1933-1935 (1992, trans. 1996) Norbert Frei, National Socialist Rule in Germany (1987, trans. 1994) Karl-Dietrich Bracher, The German Dictatorship (1970) Martin Broszat, The Hitler State (1969; trans. 1981) Essay collections on the Nazi period Neil Gregor, ed., Nazism (2000) Christian Leitz, ed., The Third Reich (1999) Michael Burleigh, ed., Confronting the Nazi Past (1996) David Crew, ed., Nazism and German Society, 1933-1945 (1994) Thomas Childers and Jane Caplan, eds., Reevaluating the Third Reich (1992) Hitler Biographies Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1886-1936: Hubris (1999; in paperback) Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis (2000; in paperback) John Lukacs, The Hitler of History (1997) Sebastian Haffner, The meaning of Hitler (trans. 1983) History 433/ Nazi Germany/ Syllabus /Page 5 SCHEDULE OF CLASS MEETINGS Jan. 15 Introductory Meeting If possible, get a head start on the class reading for next week. Jan. 22 1. The Weimar Republic (1918-1933) I: Politics, Society, Culture Class Reading: Eric D. Weitz, Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy (Princeton, 2007), entire book (368 pp.) Further Reading on the Weimar Republic: Anton Kaes, et al., eds., The Weimar Republic Sourcebook (1994) *Detlev Peukert, The Weimar Republic (1987) *Hans Mommsen, The Rise and the Fall of Weimar democracy (1996) Eberhard Kolb, The Weimar Republic (trans. 1988) Peter Gay, Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider (1968) Walter Laqueur, Weimar: A Cultural History (1974) John Willett, Art and politics in the Weimar period: The new sobriety 1917-1933 (1978) Jan. 29 2. Weimar Republic II: The Failure of Democracy and the Rise of Nazism Class Reading: Richard Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich, (New York, 2004), pp. xv-308 Ian Kershaw, “Historians and the problem of explaining Nazism,” in: Kershaw, The Nazi Dictatorship, 4th edition, pp. 1-19 Further Reading on the Republic’s Collapse: Ian Kershaw, ed., Weimar: Why did German democracy fail? (1990) Martin Broszat, Hitler and the Collapse of Weimar Germany (1987) Conan Fischer, The Rise of the Nazis (1995) Albrecht Tyrell, “Toward Dictatorship: Germany 1930 to 1934,” in The Third Reich, ed. Christian Leitz (1999), 27-48 History 433/ Nazi Germany/ Syllabus /Page 6 Feb. 5 3. The Rise of Nazism in a Small Town Class Reading: William Sheridan Allen, The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experiences of a Single German Town, 1922-1945 (2d ed, New York, 1984), entire book (303 pp.) Further Reading: Local Studies Andrew Bergerson, Ordinary Germans in Extraordinary Times: The Nazi Revolution in Hildesheim (2004) Rudy Koshar, Social Life, Local Politics, and Nazism: Marburg 1880-1935 (1986) Rudolf Heberle, From Democracy to Nazism (1970) Geoffrey Pridham, Hitler's Rise to Power: The Nazi Party in Bavaria 1925-1933 (1974) Jeremy Noakes, The Nazi Party in Lower Saxony, 1921-1933 (1971) Feb.